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Career Exploration a Life-Changer

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Keith WartzenluftCareer and technical education (CTE) can be life-changing. No one knows this better than CTE teacher Keith Wartzenluft, a business educator, department chair, and DECA advisor at the Academies of Racine-Case High School. He also oversees two school-based enterprises (SBEs): a school store and an Educators Credit Union (ECU) branch located in the store at Case.

Students in his Retailing and Promotion Principles class, a capstone course for the marketing pathway, staff the SBEs. "I always tell my students, 'Our school enterprise is only as good as their dedication to the program.'"

Alynson KolaskeAlyson Kolaske is one of his students, but "I didn't originally choose marketing," Alyson says. "I wanted to be a doctor so I was in the biomedical pathway."

Still, as a member of DECA, she attended DECA's International Career and Development Conference. "I just enjoyed DECA so much," says Alyson. Noting her strength and passion in marketing, her teachers encouraged her to try out the marketing pathway. It was pivotal for her. Today, she's not only in the marketing pathway but also has taken on the accounting pathway.

Credit Union
The Educators Credit Union at Case is located in the school store.

As a student in the Retailing and Promotion Principles class, she’s logging hours as a teller in Case's ECU branch. In addition to learning technical skills like making deposits and withdrawals, and setting up new accounts, she has learned how to read customers, she is learning what good customer service is, and "if the technology isn't working well right away, I've learned to stick with it and stay positive that it'll work out for the customer."

Alyson plans to study finance and risk management with a minor in marketing at the University of Central Florida in Orlando this fall. "It turns out I didn't want to be a doctor," she says.

Genessa EvansHer classmate, Genessa Evans, says that business was her first choice for a pathway. "I like the creative side of business," she says. "You have a chance to do your own thing, but also there are group projects."

She's a branch manager for the ECU branch at Case. "It's important to build that trust with customers," says Genessa. "We're here to build relationships."

She signed up for Youth Apprenticeship (YA) at the end of her junior year, and while she got many YA offers, she accepted a marketing position with ECU. "I knew having that experience in marketing would be a good step for me," she says.

In addition to customer service positions, her apprenticeship has also placed her in the Member Solutions Department, which addresses bankruptcies and other complicated financial situations, as well as card services, where they deal with card fraud, travel notes, and Apple Pay. "[ECU] is one of the best places I've worked."

"I get to see real-life scenarios," she says. "We're dealing with real people's problems and seeing it play out in real life. I love it."

This fall she'll be heading to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to study international business. Although she's starting her postsecondary education in her home state, "I definitely want to take advantage of the travel abroad program." Her sights are set on Tokyo or Dubai.

She's surprised by how far into the future her pathway might take her. She credits the marketing pathway at Case for her vision. "It really helps," says Genessa. "You have to think outside the box."